Summer School 2016: Exploring Belgrade: Theory x Discipline x Method

The Summer School 2016 "Exploring Belgrade: Theory x Discipline x Method" of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies in cooperation with the Honours Masters’ Programme "East European Studies" took place in the Serbian capital September 23-29. Questions of urbanity and urban life were investigated during the stay with the expertise of different disciplines. The local partner in Belgrade was Prof. Dr. Dubravka Stojanovic of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade.

The Summer School 2016 was an interdisciplinary exploration of the city in which we dwelled, Belgrade. The aim was to get acquainted with Belgrade as an important post-socialist and Southeast European city but also to reflect on how we – influenced by our disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological ‘habits’ - construct objects of research, apply particular methods, and shape our perception of reality. Hence the aim was to juxtapose the various ways of ‘constructing’ the city, working across and at the intersection of different disciplines, theories and methods. We were particularly interested in how various disciplines (anthropology, visual arts, architecture, engineering, geography, history, literature, political science, planning, etc.) approach a city, and how they, through procedures of selection and research design, arrive at particular insights, producing ‘knowledge’.

Some of the questions we asked were: does every city, every urban site, every emerging urban issue, need its own method of exploration? Are some disciplines better equipped than others to answer particular questions? How important are reflections on method in urban studies, a field dominated by grand theorizing? How important is it to develop new methods sensitive to local contexts? How specific, unique, and changeable are urban sites and to what extent does this require methodological innovation and flexibility? Is there any scope to take seriously the intuitive and subjective exploration of cities carried out by novelists, film makers, and artists, normally denied scholarly attention or status?

The participants to the Summer School were divided into three working groups covering three major fields of urban research. In these respective fields, the groups investigated how theory, discipline, and method intersect, and they also reflected on representation and representational formats in their field. The three fields were:

1. “Everyday life“, led by Ger Duijzings and Čarna Brković. Key words: street, social and community life, rituals and cultural activities, class and ethno-religious differences, the social fabric, social inequality and cohesion. Disciplines and representational formats relevant for this field are for example: anthropology and ethnography, urban sociology, human geography, cultural and performance studies, social history, the visual arts, photography and documentary film.

3. “Public spheres: local politics and urban planning“, led by Marie-Janine Calic und Jasper Trautsch. Key words: local governance, public spaces, political discourses, power, elites, social and political movements, street protests, art interventions, media. The disciplines and representational formats relevant for this field are: history, political science, media studies, critical geography, urban planning, public art, photography and documentary film, mapping, the internet, social media, etc.

Each day started with plenary sessions offering brief statements by academics attached to the Graduate School, speakers and (local) experts from abroad and Belgrade, in which they provided overviews of theoretical and methodological approaches relevant in their field. Some dealt specifically with Belgrade. The plenary sessions were followed by working group sessions, where theoretical literature and representational formats were discussed, and where this was ‘translated’ and connected to the local context of Belgrade. In the afternoons the working groups did fieldwork, exploring the city following the methods and lines of inquiry typical for their field, meeting up with local experts, visiting relevant urban sites or venues, and carrying out observations and gathering relevant materials. The working groups reported back on their work with presentations of 30 minutes each during the last plenary session in the afternoon of Wednesday 28 September. Prior to the Summer School students made themselves acquainted with the general and discipline specific key readings on urban theory, as well as some introductory texts on Belgrade, for which a reader is provided.